Hop picking

[carrielovesfanta]

Hi all

My nan said that her granny often went hop-picking in Kent. Do you think there are any lists of people employed in hop picking available for research?

All thoughts appreciated greatly!

Caz

[suttontrust]

I doubt it.  Whole families would decamp to the hop fields every year and were employed on a casual basis. 

[carrielovesfanta]

Ah, never mind. It was a long shot!

Thanks very much

Caz

[bearkat]

Suttontrust is right.  Thousands of people, mainly Londoners, went hop picking in Kent every year.   You might be lucky in finding information especially  if your family visited the same farm every year.   Many books have been published and there are lots of photos.

[Rod In Sussex]

You might like to look through this site (it is the old Whitbread Hop Farm)

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/industrial/hop%20farm%20country%20park.htm

Having picked hops by hand when much younger (I think it was one of the last seasons before mechanization). It was dry, hot, dusty work. Many Kentish pubs last out a full year on the money made in a few weeks of drinking by the hop pickers. This was so important to the local community that you should find lots of sources, but you would need to know the village to have any real hope of finding a name in an archived farm account. I seem to recall that we were paid by the busshell (a wicker basket used to measure the hops) and someone would have written down who was owed what. A few of these books may survive.

Good luck

Rod

[carrielovesfanta]

Thanks very much guys. I don't think my nan knows the name of the farm but I will get on the "blower" and see what I can dig up!

Thanks again and best wishes

Caz

[ec]

Hop picking went on right into the 1950's/60's.  My dad used to go every year with his mother/various rellies and even when he started work he used to go down for the weekend.  It was seen as a way to get a 'holiday'

ec

P.S. - always known as 'opping